Glass Wings Blog

The Glass Wings mailing list and blog is for general idle chit-chat about things we find interesting, especially humor, animation or other subjects relevant to the Glass Wings web site.

A 1930s movement wanted to merge the US, Canada and Greenland. Here’s why it has modern resonances

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:27:07 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://theconversation.com/a-1930s-movement-wanted-to-merge-the-us-canada-and-greenland-heres-why-it-has-modern-resonances-252587>

"A movement that wanted to merge North America into one nation and extend its
borders as far as the Panama Canal might sound incredibly familiar. But this
group, called the “technocracy movement”, was a group of 1930s nonconformists

Scientists stunned by striking behavior shift across hundreds of animal species: 'That is not always correct'

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:23:35 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/animal-behavior-diurnal-nocturnal-shift/>

"We like to think we have animals figured out: Owls prowl at night, squirrels
scamper by day, and bears sleep through winter. But it turns out wildlife isn't
following our rule book, and a new global study reveals just how much their

The paradox of democracy’s success: behavioural science helps explain why we miss autocratic red flags

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:22:56 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://theconversation.com/the-paradox-of-democracys-success-behavioural-science-helps-explain-why-we-miss-autocratic-red-flags-251955>

"The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 paved the way for the democratisation of
many eastern European countries and triumphantly ushered in the era of global
liberal democracy that some scholars celebrated as “the end of history”. The

Plants breathe with millions of tiny mouths. We used lasers to understand how this skill evolved

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:22:09 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://theconversation.com/plants-breathe-with-millions-of-tiny-mouths-we-used-lasers-to-understand-how-this-skill-evolved-249362>

"Plant behaviour may seem rather boring compared with the frenetic excesses of
animals. Yet the lives of our vegetable friends, who tirelessly feed the entire
biosphere (including us), are full of exciting action. It just requires a

Academic publishing is a multibillion-dollar industry. It’s not always good for science

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 12:21:05 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://theconversation.com/academic-publishing-is-a-multibillion-dollar-industry-its-not-always-good-for-science-250056>

"In December 2024, the editorial board of the Journal of Human Evolution
resigned en masse following disagreements with the journal’s publisher,
Elsevier. The board’s grievances included claims of inadequate copyediting,

Lessons from open source in the Mexican government

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 04:22:25 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/1013776/2d1901043af26022/

'The adoption of open-source software in governments has had its ups and downs.
While open source seems like a "no-brainer", it turns out that governments can
be surprisingly resistant to using FOSS for a variety of reasons. Federico

Synchronised bleaching: Ningaloo and the Great Barrier Reef are bleaching in unison for the first time

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 04:19:13 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://theconversation.com/synchronised-bleaching-ningaloo-and-the-great-barrier-reef-are-bleaching-in-unison-for-the-first-time-252906>

"This summer, an intense marine heatwave struck off northwestern Australia,
driving sea surface temperatures up to 4°C above the summer average. The large
mass of warm water has slowly moved south from the Kimberley region and through

Journalists among more than 1,100 arrested in Turkey crackdown

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 04:17:46 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/24/journalists-among-more-than-1100-arrested-in-turkey-crackdown-istanbul>

"Turkish authorities have arrested more than 1,100 people including
journalists, while bombarding the social media platform X with requests to
block hundreds of accounts after tens of thousands took to the streets in the

Giving rivers room to move: how rethinking flood management can benefit people and nature

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 04:13:19 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://theconversation.com/giving-rivers-room-to-move-how-rethinking-flood-management-can-benefit-people-and-nature-251225>

"When we think about flood management, higher stop banks, stronger levees and
concrete barriers usually come to mind. But what if the best solution – for
people and nature – isn’t to confine rivers, but to give them more space?

Hope for endangered penguins as no-fishing zones agreed off South Africa

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 04:12:31 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

<https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/18/hope-for-endangered-penguins-as-no-fishing-zones-agreed-off-south-africa>

"Efforts to stop the critically endangered African penguin from going extinct
took a step forward on Tuesday after South African conservationists and fishing
industry groups reached a legal settlement on no-fishing zones around six of